Ecosystem services potential for climate change resilience in peri-urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Ecosystem services provide considerable development opportunities, including incorporating land use planning and enhancing climate change resilience in peri-urban communities. However, the application of this concept in planning and enhancing climate change resilience is negligible in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This article reviews state-of-the-art research on the potential contribution of peri-urban ecosystem services to climate change resilience in SSA and identifies research gaps for further work. This study was conducted through systematic review of articles from the Web of Science. The literature shows limited knowledge on peri-urban ecosystem services research globally and SSA in particular. The gaps in this knowledge stem from inadequate conceptualization and lack of understanding about how such knowledge can be translated into policy, planning and management and, hence, realizing development goals. In nutshell, the potential for climate change resilience of well-managed peri-urban ecosystem services includes reducing the physical exposure of peri-urban areas to floods and droughts and minimizing climate change risks through increased socio-economic resilience to hazard impacts and provision of the carbon sequestration function. However, specific peri-urban studies describing ecosystem service types and how they can be synchronized into mainstream urban planning and climate change resilience strategies are lacking in most SSA urban regions/landscapes. Therefore, case studies need to be conducted to contextualize and downscale the concept in peri-urban areas and to determine how the concept can be synchronized into broad urban planning and strategies for enhancing resilience to climate change in vulnerable urban and peri-urban communities.